Why Manchester City look unstoppable at top of Premier League - Alan Shearer

Manchester City have won 15 consecutive games in all competitions, won a club record-equalling nine league games in a row and are eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.

The Blues extended their lead by beating Arsenal 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, before Manchester United lost at Chelsea. They look unstoppable at the moment.
The worrying thing for the other title-chasing teams is how much City have improved since they finished third last term, 15 points behind champions Chelsea, in Pep Guardiola's debut season.
City have improved going forward - they are blowing teams away, with 38 goals in their opening 11 league games - and have improved defensively.
There was a big moment just before half-time in the win against the Gunners - City keeper Ederson made a stunning save from Aaron Ramsey. That would have been a goal last year, when Claudio Bravo was their number one.
If it goes in, and it is 1-1 rather than 1-0, then it might have turned the game. Pep has learned from the mistakes they made last season.
City are much better than the rest of the league and that is the concern for the other teams.

 

Can City avoid winter blues?

When I was at Blackburn, Manchester United had a 12-point lead over us after 16 games of the 1993-94 season, but we fought back to be level on points with them - briefly - by April.
But the problem for the other teams now is that I didn't see any weaknesses in City's performance against Arsenal. In fact, I haven't seen any weaknesses this season. They have been massively impressive.
However, City have also started impressively in each of the past two seasons but had a dip in form over the winter.
That could have been for a number of reasons - injuries, volume of fixtures, conditions - and Guardiola knows they can't afford to do that this season.
He has been a title winner in Spain and Germany so he knows what it takes to get over the line.
City have got options if players are injured - they have more options than anyone else.
If Sergio Aguero gets injured, they have Gabriel Jesus, whereas Chelsea without Alvaro Morata are not the same. Tottenham without Harry Kane are not the same, Manchester United without Romelu Lukaku - who is struggling a bit at the moment - are not the same.
They will have a sticky spell. But it might not matter because they might be that many points ahead. It is very worrying for the rest of the league.